For decades the Arab League has operated as a "Dictators Protection Society" to quote one pundit. Now it is ready to boot Syria out of its exclusive club. The King of Jordan is speaking out and Saudi Arabia may be pulling strings. All of which begs the question ... With the uprisings across the middle east, is the Arab League changing with the times? Or is it a hypocritical bunch desperate to hang on to what power is left?

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Part One of The Current

Satire

It's Tuesday, November 15th.

Italy's new Prime Minister has begun rescuing Italy from the brink of economic disaster.

Though, there has been no mention of that on any of Silvio Berlusconi's television networks.

This is The Current.

Arab League's suspension of Syria's membership - Khouri / Daragahi

We started this segment with a clip from King Abdullah of Jordan with some unexpected advice for the leader of Syria. The King was in a BBC interview going beyond what any Arab leader has said publicly at a time when Bashar Al Assad faces unprecedented challenges to his rule. Demands for the Syrian President's resignation began in March, and have raged on even as the country's security forces try to suppress the protests.

The United Nations estimates the police and army have killed 3500 civilians. But if President Assad thought he could count on the support of his fellow Arab leaders, he received an awful shock this weekend ... when The League of Arab States said it would suspend Syria's membership and threatened economic sanctions. The League is not known for speaking up for Arab victims of government injustice. And its condemnation of Damascus has some convinced that this is a turning point.

Rami Khouri is a syndicated columnist and the Director of the Issam Fares Institute of Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut. He was in Doha. Borzou Daragahi is The Financial Times' Middle East correspondent. He was in Cairo.

Related Link:

• The Arab League stands by the Syrian people By: Dawood al-Shirian - Al Arabiya news
• Arab League threatens to suspend Syria By Borzou Daragahi - Financial Times
• By suspending Syria, Arab League finally breaks from its past By David Ignatius - Washington Post
• Syria death toll tops 3,500, UN says - BBC News
  

Other segments from today's show:

• Assisted suicide returns to Canadian courts
• The drain on Herman Cain